


lay our names to rest and leave our history behind

by Kanari



Series: a second chance to make amends [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:14:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27366376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kanari/pseuds/Kanari
Summary: There are many theories behind time travel. Paradoxes and flat circles and cosmic strings and all the other fun stuff. Even that was before magic was added to the mix.None of which were any concern to Sirius Black, James Potter, or Remus Lupin. Before starting their second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, they must first make it through the sorting ceremony. This one goes a bit differently than it did the first time around.
Relationships: Regulus Black & Sirius Black
Series: a second chance to make amends [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2016794
Comments: 18
Kudos: 60





	1. A Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> Just an idea I had that wouldn't leave me alone. Please enjoy and comment if you want :)

Lyra Cassiopeia Black was a surprise.

The pregnancy had been a surprise. The relationship between Cygnus and Druella was not the most stable Pureblood relationship due to their thirteen year age gap, Cygnus' young age, and Druella being, well, Druella. Coupled with the fact that they already had three daughters - the oldest of which was almost Hogwarts age - made the news even more of a surprise.

None of which Sirius would know until he was much older - he'd been one at the time of her birth and distracted by his own new little sibling.

Sirius hadn't known what to make of her at first. The first memory he had of her was Black family dinner when he was maybe five or six, though he'd forgotten the specifics due to indifference. He couldn't remember what the dinner was for; except that it was long, boring and stifling in his itchy dress robes. He hadn't said a word the whole night (his Mother had sat him down before they left and warned him to behave) and had stuck close to Regulus (the warning might've involved his brother).

He remembered her being so little. The littlest person he'd known at the time was Regulus, who was tiny, but somehow - even though they were the same age - Lyra was decidedly smaller. She'd looked exceptionally small next to her sisters, a tiny clone of Narcissa. Well, an almost clone - like Sirius and Regulus. Lyra had dirty blonde hair instead of Cissy's lighter blonde that was a bit more on the wild Black side and her blue eyes were much lighter, almost grey. Lyra had played the part, in a pretty dress and a polite smile. She only spoke when spoken to and seemed content to sit through the whole dull ordeal by staring at the walls.

His first assessment of her was that she was just a bit vacant and boring. That changed once dinner was over.

The whole family had moved into what Sirius liked to call the standing room, which was just a room where everyone stood around saying polite nothings to each other while the adults drank. He'd been content to just stand next to a wall with Regulus the whole night while the adults ignored them to discuss the same all drama when a shriek had halted the room.

It originated from Bellatrix, who shrieked a second time (a horrible sound only slightly better than her creepy laugh) at something Lyra was holding and had fled the room, leaving her bewildered sister standing there. Most of Lyra's hair had fallen out of the pins holding it up and her feet were bare and dirty. And in her hands was a tiny snake.

"Lyra!" Druella was in front of her youngest in an instant. "What do you think you're doing? Terrorising your sister at a family event!"

"B-but Mama," She'd said softly, tears in her eyes, "I thought Bella would like to see him. She's been talking about snakes all night."

Sirius had had to cover his smile with his hand at that. Bella had been insufferable all night going on and on about Slytherin and how great it was. It had been so annoying.

Druella just sighed, obviously used to this behaviour. "Fine, just take it out side. We'll talk about this later."

Lyra then glanced at Sirius for, what he thought, the first time that night and hesitated.

"Mama, can Sirius and Regulus come with-"

"Yes, yes, just go - all three of you."

Clearly dismissed, the three youngest Blacks had escaped to the hallway, where Lyra showed them the snake in her hands. It was a little thing, nothing scary about it, that just lazily flicking its tongue out at them. Snakes were weird and gross and Sirius vowed to never like them but at the time Regulus had lit up at the sight of the little thing. It was kind of cute, in the way all tiny animals were.

"It's kinda cute," Sirius had said and the way Regulus had smiled at him had made him smile, even if the rest of the evening had been horrible. "I'm sorry Bella didn't like it and ran off."

(He wasn't sorry, he was happy she had, but he didn't want Lyra to feel bad.)

She'd smiled at him and replied in a softer, more relaxed voice than he'd heard the whole night. "It's okay. I knew she wouldn't like it, I just wanted her to stop talking for a bit. I'd rather share this with you two."

Not long after that dinner, Walburga had overheard Lyra talking about invisible creatures that did not exist and had banned any interaction between the girl and her children out of fear that her madness would spread. Thinking back on it now, Sirius thought that was a pointless venture - madness ran in their blood.

Lyra Black did not have any interaction with her cousins apart from family dinners until Sirius had gone to Hogwarts. He'd been surprised coming home for the summer holidays to find her roaming around his house with Regulus. He'd been confused at first, until he'd owled James about it and he'd replied with a collective theory from Peter, Remus and himself.

(Walburga would pitch a fit if Sirius communicated with Remus or Peter - at least James was from a 'respectable' Pureblood family.)

They thought that it was a ploy by his mother to distance Regulus from Sirius. If Regulus had no other close friends and spent the holidays hearing about how great Gryffindor was, he might be tempted to try something at his sorting. Keeping him closer to a proper Black, no matter how mentally sound she was, and away from his disappointment of a brother was a sure way to stop him from straying.

He didn't interact much with either of them during the holiday. Lyra and Regulus were always off together, huddled away behind a book or talking softly in Regulus' room. Sirius might've sought them out if he hadn't had to deal with his mother the whole summer.

But finally, Sirius was back at Hogwarts, waiting for his cousin and brother to be sorted. He was nervous. He knew Regulus would be in Slytherin, he was too malleable and had spent a whole year in _that_ house without Sirius. He hated it all the same. Once Regulus was in the house of the snakes, he'd be lost.

Sirius was also nervous for Lyra. No matter what his mother's plans were, Sirius didn't think Lyra had the heart, or lack thereof, for Slytherin. But Blacks were Slytherin. She had to be in Slytherin. Blacks were _always_ Slytherin (except him).

When his cousin's name was called, Sirius thought he might throw up the chocolate frog he ate in the train - he could practically still feel it hopping around in his stomach. She walked up to the hat without a care in a world as though she didn't realise just how important this moment was.

She wasn't sitting for long, the hat barely on her head before it called out.

"Ravenclaw!"

Sirius put his head in his hands. He couldn't watch this. The rest of the school clapped politely, if a bit stilted from surprise. Blacks were always Slytherin. There wasn't much noise coming from the green side of the Great Hall.

Sirius didn't look up as he waited for his brother's name to be called. This was it. And he waited. And then hushed voices started up.

A voice from down the table hissed, "Oi Black, what's your cousin doing?"

Sirius looked up.

Lyra had stepped down from the stool towards the Ravenclaw table but had stopped and now stood watching Professor McGonagall. Who in turn was waiting for Lyra to take her seat. Lyra seemed to catch on much later than most would, distracted by the architecture of one of the walls.

"Oh! Please go on Professor, my cousin's next," Lyra said, utterly calm, "I wish to congratulate him first. I'm not sitting down until he's sorted."

A few students chuckled at that and a few others muttered disapprovingly but Professor McGonagall had dealt with a lot during her time at Hogwarts. She just sighed and continued.

"Regulus Black."

He looked so small. The hat seemed to swallow Regulus when it was placed on his head. Time seemed to stretch as he sat there. Next to Sirius, Remus counted. At ten seconds, Regulus shifted and tried not to fidget. Fidgeting was frowned upon in the Black house and Sirius was surprised. Regulus must've been nervous. Eighteen seconds in, Regulus gripped the stool with both his hands and screwed up his face in concentration. Sirius would've thought it an adorable thing to tease his brother about later if it didn't make him so scared. Then, after twenty-two seconds of silence, the sorting hat spoke.

"Ravenclaw."

There was silence. McGonagall took the hat and Regulus stumbled off the stool. He seemed lost for a moment, before Lyra reached forward and gripped his hand. The clapping started, Ravenclaw quite enthusiastically. They'd gotten two Blacks ( _Blacks were always Slytherin_ ).

Sirius didn't know what to think, his mind overloaded by what this could mean. But despite the implications of two Blacks being in Ravenclaw, Sirius clapped along with the other houses - bar Slytherin, who were all stony silent.

Watching his brother and cousin join the table of blue and bronze hand in hand - Lyra confidently and Regulus timidly - he came to a realisation.

Lyra had planned this.

Sirius laughed.


	2. A Gryffindor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James Potter is simultaneously more observant than people assume and less observant than people think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chap is much shorter than the last but just as important. There is a reason I wrote it from James' pov and unfortunately that shortens what I could put in here.

Holly Evans was a Gryffindor.

Holly Evans was always going to be in Gryffindor.

At least that's what James had heard. He wasn't really friends with Lily - she seemed to hate him for some reason. He didn't understand it, she liked Remus and Peter just fine but whenever he or Sirius were involved she avoided them. Peter said it was because of how loud they were and Remus thought it was due to how disruptive they could be in the common room. Which was just not true - he and Sirius were a laugh.

Still, James was in the same house as her and had been there last year when she'd gotten a letter from home saying Holly had experienced accidental magic. She'd been so excited she'd shrieked in delight, scaring Peter so badly he'd dropped his toast onto his tie. 

The topic of her sister was all she could speak about for months. James even momentarily forgot that Lily had two sisters instead of one. Which was not entirely his fault - she never talked about her older sister.

She talked about how she and her sister had been so close when they were little that they were often mistaken as twins. She talked about how Holly would always lead their adventures. How Holly would comfort her with wild stories about dragons and invisible horses and secret doors hiding even more secret clubs. How she was the bravest of the Evans girls, fighting bullies years older than her for her sisters.

How she had inspired Lily to be braver, stronger.

James really did owe this Holly a lot. Without her, Lily might've been in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff and then who would he sit behind in class?

The first time he had heard of her from a source other than Lily had been on the Hogwarts train. Minutes after it had left the station, a rumour had moved through the compartments with a speed James was impressed with. Apparently, as soon as the station was out of sight, Lily's little sister had gone right up to Severus Snape and punched him in the face.

She'd said, "You know what you did." And then just marched away.

Peter had snuck down the train to check if it was true since out of the four friends, he was the least recognisable. It was a bit of a sore point for the boy but on multiple occasions, Remus had reassured him that it made him best for covert operations and that the boy was the 'ninja' of the group. Not that any of them knew what that meant. Peter had come back grinning and told them all that Snape already had the start of a black eye. Truly amazing, James' day was made. He was going to like this Holly Evans, he just knew it.

What was even more amazing was the talk when they got off at Hogsmead. More than one person had witnessed (not James or any of his friends, they wouldn't be caught dead hanging around that git) Snape admit that her reason for hitting him was justified and that he was wrong.

Since when did that happen? James had tried to discuss this revelation with his friends on the way to the castle but Sirius just looked like he was going to faint and Remus was so distracted he missed him saying anything. At least Peter had grinned back at him and agreed that this Holly Evans was a good thing if she kept doing that. Screw the others, Peter was his new best friend.

Sitting not far down from Lily at the Gryffindor table as the first years came in, James could see she was nervous. Until she lit up and James turned to find Holly in the crowd. She was easy to spot, one of the only a few redheads waiting to be sorted and was actually one of the first to walk into the great hall. Her hair was definitely lighter than Lily's and rather than Lily's vibrant green eyes, Holly seemed to be almost hazel (It was hard to see from this far away).

During the sorting of Sirius's cousin and brother he lost track of her, far too concerned with his friend than the sister of an acquaintance. Even is that acquaintance was Lily.

And so James missed Holly's shock when Lyra's name was called. He missed how she blinked back tears as the Black walked forward. Missed the soft gasp as the muggleborn realised something. Most importantly, he missed the following acceptance.

James didn't loose her for long - Evans wasn't that far down the alphabet to Black - and when her name was called she marched up to the stool with her jaw set and back straight. He could definitely see how she was a Gryffindor. The determination in her eyes, her confidence as she sat, even the smirk she sent Lily as the hat was placed on her head.

"Twenty seconds tops," he muttered to Sirius next to him.

"Twenty to a minute - bet," the boy replied, sounding much happier than earlier that day.

So they sat for twenty seconds. And then a minute.

The hat didn't speak. The girl was no longer smirking but frowning. She didn't seem scared when the two minute mark was reached but rather annoyed, like she was having an argument with the hat. At two and a half minutes, the murmurs started and James glanced down the table at Lily. Much like her sister, she wore a frown. Unlike her sister, hers was full of worry.

Three minutes and forty-nine seconds later (Remus counted how long the sorting were to be an impartial judge in any bets) the hat finally spoke.

"Ravenclaw!"

As Holly Evans walked towards the Ravenclaw table, she didn't glance at the Gryffindor table at all - even as Lily clapped hesitantly.

Once again, James missed something important as he watched Lily. Lyra, who had been grinning since Holly's name was called, now smiled widely as the muggleborn moved to join her house.


	3. A Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus had been a scared and lonely child. Until he wasn't so much anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one may have some errors, I wanted to get it out as soon as I finished it. Enjoy!

David Wood was a gift.

Well, that's what Remus always thought he was. Unashamedly, David was the best thing that had happened in Remus's like before Hogwarts.

They'd met when Remus was at his lowest, the worst time of his life. It had only been a few months since that night and they'd just moved to new village for some semblance of anonymity. They'd been stretched for cash for the sudden move, Lyall was still trying to come to terms with what had happened, Hope was almost constantly scared - being a muggle, she couldn't do anything, and Remus still had nightmares at that point every night.

Their new house was old and a bit ratty but it did have a cellar (the reason they bought it) and the mood was constantly tense. His father rarely there, taking overtime at the Ministry more and more and when he was, he could barely look at Remus. In contrast, his mother was always around. She hadn't wanted to leave Remus alone and had taken it upon herself to fix up the house as much as she could. She still jumped at unexpected noises and flinched whenever Remus raised his voice around a full moon. She'd cry afterwards and apologise and hug him but Remus knew the truth. It was all Remus' fault.

No longer having any friends and not wanting to get in his mother's way, Remus had taken to sitting in the garden. The same spot everyday, right in the middle of the view from the kitchen just so his mother always knew where he was in case she started one of her panics. He'd sit and read or play with his few toys or just lay there and look at the clouds even when he'd rather run around. Remus had been an active child, playing three different muggle sports he'd long forgotten the names of in their last town. No more sports for Remus - short sleeves would show the scars.

It was a summer evening with storms on the horizon when he and David met for the first time. Remus had been contemplating going inside as thunder rumbled in the distance when he'd heard what sounded like someone saying 'hello'. He'd dismissed it, no one really came around here.

Then Remus had heard it again and this time it was accompanied by a squeak and the sound of rocks scraping against each other. He'd glanced up to find a small boy trying to find a hold on the stone wall of their garden - the side that faced the green fields of someone else's property - so that he could see over. The boy had brown hair and, from what Remus could see, brown eyes and looked perfectly normal. Remus froze. The boy struggled with the wall for a while before finding a secure enough grip, muttering to himself the whole time. He'd seemed ready to haul himself over when he'd spotted Remus staring and stilled.

They'd stared at each other for a second before the boy spoke hopefully.

"My Mum mentioned a new magic family moved in here and that they had a son my age."

There'd been a pause where Remus didn't know what to do. He'd glanced at the kitchen but couldn't see his mother. What were the rules? It was rude to ignore people but his father had wanted him to avoid the people from the town. But this boy wasn't a muggle, he was a wizard - did that change things?

Deciding to be polite, Remus had answered, "Yeah, that's us."

The boy smiled, "Oh great! I'm David, I live over there."

He'd gestured as well as he could with one hand still gripping the wall in the direction of some hills and although no house was visible, Remus had known the place - he could see their lights at night.

"I'm Remus," he'd replied softly.

"Cool," David smiled wider, "Wanna play?"

"I-I don't know, I- my Dad," Remus panicked, backing up, "I gotta check but not today. Sorry, bye."

And then Remus had left the boy at his fence and fled inside. They didn't play that day. Remus didn't ask his father if he could play with the wizard kid from over the hills - he didn't even mention David had been there at all. It took a while, maybe months, before his father had asked if Remus would ever want to get to know the Wood boy.

Apparently, David's father worked in the Ministry as well and, although he was in a different department, had tracked him down to enquire about a play date.

Remus had said yes as soon as is father had mentioned David. They made up a story to tell to explain Remus' ... symptoms and days they couldn't meet up. The lie went like this: his mother and Remus had this muggle disease that could flare up and make them tired or get fevers or rashes. It was Hope's idea - wizards didn't know muggle stuff and she knew enough about it that if any muggleborns or halfbloods had questions she could answer them. Remus hated thinking about this lie, him having the fake disease was fine but his Mum?

It did make it more believable.

And so David and Remus would hang out. It was often inconsistent, they'd go weeks without seeing each other and then spend days in a row together. Neither of the boys were that sociable either, most of the first meetings were painfully silent or filled with hesitant, stilled conversation.

Remus cherished every moment of it.

David was cool. Not in a way most kids might think but in a Remus way. David loved plants and he, in Remus' opinion, knew everything about them. He also loved, not as much but still quite a bit, magical creatures and Remus was so happy he had someone to talk about creatures with again (his mother used to love them, fascinated with the wonderful creatures of the magical world but, well, werewolves were magical creatures too). They'd spend hours reading in his garden, huddled around books or sitting elbow deep in the Wood's garden or even just wondering the creek nearby in complete silence unless one of them found something cool.

That continued for years.

Sometimes, Remus would see him less - when he was eight he saw David exactly four times the whole year, two times in the same week. That was completely different the next year, when he and David spent almost two weeks over the summer holidays together every day. David's family went on a lot of holidays and away for quidditch matches for whole weekends. This combined with Remus and his mother's fake ill health every month and often at other random times as to not make a pattern meant they didn't see each other as much as normal friends probably did but Remus didn't care.

Inconsistent as it was, Remus still loved it. He had a _friend_.

They had even convinced David's father, a kind man who insisted Remus had to call him Alfie - not Mr Wood, never sir and most definitely anything but Alfred - to build them a small treehouse. It wasn't really a treehouse, it was more of a platform in a tall bush. It was a wooden plank nailed to the tree it sat in, no walls or roof and therefore, no house. The squat little tree it sat in grew out much more then it did up, resulting in the platform sitting only about a meter from the ground. Which was almost too high for David, who didn't like heights much.

That, combined with his clumsiness, meant that his family's hopes for a future quidditch career had been dashed almost immediately after he learned to walk. That had been a sore point for David at the time of the treehouse build, when he'd asked his father to put the treehouse on a lower branch in a small voice. Alfie didn't seem to mind.

David had told Remus later, sitting in the new treehouse that his family had quite the history with quidditch. Every Wood going back four generations had been on their respective Hogwarts quidditch teams with over half becoming captains. His father had been the Hufflepuff quidditch captain for three years while his mother had been the Gryffindor captain for two - that's how they'd met. On top of this, his mother now played for the Applebee Arrows as a beater while his brother, Isaac, had just made it onto the Gryffindor quidditch team that year as a second year - despite strong competition from older students.

At the time, Remus couldn't help but share his own fear. That he'd never be able to go to Hogwarts. That he'd forever be a burden on his family. ( ~~That he'd always be a monster to them~~.)

David had just smiled and replied easily, "I'm sure you could do anything you put your mind to."

His confidence in Remus hurt him. There were a lot of things Remus couldn't do and would never be able to do.

But maybe he could pretend he could for a little while. So he did.

And the most amazing thing happened - Remus got his letter to Hogwarts. He'd ran all the way to David's as soon as he could to tell him.

They'd jumped around the garden kicking up puddles from the latest rainstorm, Remus chanting "I'm going to Hogwarts." and David chanting "I knew it." and at that point, it was the happiest day in Remus' life.

And then Remus had been swept up into Hogwarts and ashamedly forgotten about his friend for a while. With learning new magic he didn't think he'd ever be able to learn and making friends with his housemates time flew by. When he'd realised, a month and a half into the school year, Remus had immediately forgone dinner and written a letter to David. What made it even worse was David's older brother was in his house (admittedly he was in seventh year and they never crossed paths but he was on the quidditch team and he'd watched them play without catching on). Letters weren't a thing either of them did, they often just waited to see each other again to talk, but Remus had felt like he owed David something - David had been such a good friend and he'd believed in Remus. David had replied with a shorter letter, saying he was happy for him and that they'd talk on the holidays and that Remus better go and have fun and stop worrying.

Remus didn't go back home Christmas. David's family was on holiday during the following summer. Remus didn't see him until he was sitting at the Gryffindor table waiting for the sorting and spotted David trip up a step into the Great Hall.

(Admittedly, Remus had avoided looking for him on the train, scared that, for some reason, they were no longer friends. Scared that Hogwarts had changed too much. ~~Just scared~~.

Which meant he didn't notice David's shock at the rumour that Lily Evans' little sister punched Snape.

Which meant he didn't see David join the Lyra and Regulus Black in a compartment and sit in silence for minutes after they'd introduces themselves before asking Lyra if she was worried people would bully her by stealing her shoes.

(Regulus had been confused by this but Lyra hadn't seemed offended - rather the opposite in fact - and brushed it off as a normal thing adequately socialized children talked about.))

Remus was still scared when David's name was called. What if the hat put him in a house David didn't like? What if his dormmates were mean? What if David became such good friends with other people that he forgot about Remus? What if David hated it here? ~~What if he hated him?~~ What if-

"Ravenclaw!"

James was looking at him weird. Remus hadn't counted how long the sorting had taken.

"You all right, mate?" Peter asked.

At the Ravenclaw table, Lyra Black elbowed Holly Evans sitting beside her and whispered something that was lost amongst the clapping.

"Yeah, I am," Remus reassured his friends as David smiled at him as he hopped off the stool.

Holly Evans grinned and waved the approaching boy over to the empty space on her other side.


	4. An extra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Repetition can be unpleasant when unprepared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little extra for you all :)

Olivia Wilson was an extra.

An extra to the timeline, tacked on after it had been made. She wasn't supposed to be here, she didn't belong, this wasn't her life or her time. That had already happened in the future.

And Olivia Wilson didn't want to be here.

She'd been so happy when she'd been born to a muggle family. Yes, magic was amazing but being a muggle meant that she could create a whole new life for herself and never have to think about Hogwarts (or the whole Wizarding World) again. Never have to think about who she'd see at Hogwarts. She knew that date, knew who would be there at this time, knew what was going to happen in the future.

She didn't want that this time around.

So Olivia had lived like a muggle and learned everything she could about it and decided that she loved it. From a magic perspective, a muggle way of life might look a bit barbaric but they were leaps and bounds ahead of the wizarding world. The innovation, the ingenuity, the _science_.

She grew to love her new mother, Gemma Wilson. She was an overworked single mother of a, quite frankly, high maintenance daughter but the woman was a straight talker that took no shit and was always up for a laugh. Luckily, Olivia's asshole of a father Dale had bailed when she was little and she'd been so relieved. One new parent was enough to get used to.

Olivia had started to carve out a life as a muggle when Professor Flitwick had come, letter in hand. She always knew that it might but as she hadn't experienced a lick of accidental magic she'd hoped. She was wrong to do so.

Her mother thought she'd cried out of shock or maybe excitement. It wasn't.

She'd dragged her feet throughout the whole process but Olivia still found herself walking onto the Hogwarts Express the following September.

She _didn't_ want to be here. She didn't want to do this again.

Olivia spent most of the trip curled up in the corner of a compartment. The third year Hufflepuff girls had been happy to let her sit with them and had even tried to involve her in their conversation. She'd ignored them by pretending to sleep. That was her plan really - just keep her head down and ignore everything for the next seven years.

Her plan wasn't off to the best start. When Olivia got up to use the loo she immediately collided with another student. It was her fault, she'd left the compartment quite abruptly to avoid conversation without looking. The boy who slammed into her was going quite fast down the corridor, practically running. He jumped away from her quickly, embarrassment turning his ears red. He was quite unremarkable and thankfully no hint of recognition lay in his features. He was small, most likely only a year or so older than herself and had yet to change into his robes.

"I'm so sorry," he blurted out.

"It's ok," she replied.

She didn't know if it was or not but she tried to drop the conversation and continue down the train past him. Unfortunately, the boy furrowed his brows at her.

"Are you a first year?" He asked.

Olivia just wanted to leave.

"Yeah, I am. Excuse me."

He jumped and moved aside. "Oh, sorry again!"

She didn't think of him again. The closer they got to Hogwarts, the more Olivia withdrew into her own head.

Soon enough, she was in a boat looking upon the magnificent castle that was Hogwarts. Olivia didn't bother with learning anything about the others in the boat with her. Her worry lay with those already inside the magical stone walls.

The girl next to her gasped at the view. The boys behind them dropped their conversation to a whisper, voices laced with revere. Olivia's expression didn't change but she couldn't stop her eyes from tearing up at the sight.

She loved Hogwarts. She missed Hogwarts. But she _didn't want to be here_.

The sorting passed in a blur as she tried to avoid looking anywhere but her own feet. The other people in her year were inconsequential anyways.

"Olivia Wilson."

She didn't look up at her name. She knew how far it was to the hat. She knew the view from there. She didn't want it again.

As the hat settling on her head Olivia cleared her mind, thinking only one sentence on repeat. _Please put me somewhere I can disappear._

The sorting hat replied: _So many demands tonight. Hmm, let's see._

_Please put me somewhere I can disappear._

_Please put me somewhere I can disappear. I'm not supposed to be here._

_Please put me somewhere I can disappear. I can't change anything._

_Please put me somewhere I can disappear. I don't want to-_

"Ravenclaw!"

A small mercy.

Still, Olivia Wilson did not want to be here. She was an extra to the timeline. Just an extra.


End file.
